'Dragon lady' drives home
message

Marilyn Zimmerman
dresses the part to urge women to "slay the dragons" during a February
lecture, part of the Photo Active Feminist Lecture Series sponsored by the
School of Art and Design and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Zimmerman donned the dragon costume to emphasize the need to fight against
militarism, sexism, censorship and the patriarchal barriers that continue
to exist in the art world. During her lecture, she discussed the battle
she successfully fought against censors when her home and Wayne State
University offices were raided for photos she had taken of her daughter.
While she won the case, she lost custody of her child over the nude photos
of the child, then three years old, after a bath. Zimmerman used this as
an example of how photography taken out of context can lead to extensive
censorship and consequences. The lecture series concludes March 19, when
Barbara Kruger, New York billboard artist and feminist, will speak at 7
p.m. in Rackham Auditorium. Photo by Patricia Duque.